Patterico:
As I mentioned yesterday, I am astounded that so many people want to blame the GOP’s failure to repeal ObamaCare on those who are least to blame: folks like Rand Paul and Mike Lee. As I said, the real villains are the people who voted for the ObamaCare (partial) repeal bill in 2015 — but oppose it today.
Well, Mitch McConnell will soon call for a vote on a reanimated version of that same bill. And now we’re starting to learn who the scoundrels really are.
At the top of the list of giant hypocrites, you’ll find Senators Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — who have both declared their intention to vote against the ObamaCare repeal bill that they both voted for in 2015. As Phil Kerpen said:
They should call it The Same Exact Repeal Bill You Voted for in 2015 that Obama Vetoed Act of 2017.
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) July 18, 2017
They have no excuse for this, and their betrayal will save ObamaCare.
This means war.
Capito and Murkowski are the most worthless type of hypocrites imaginable. They have postured as being against Obamacare, but they never really were. They voted in favor of the (partial) repeal in 2015 — and yet they claim they cannot vote for the same bill today, in 2017.
What is the difference between 2015 and 2017? Yesterday afternoon I sent emails to the press offices of Senators Capito and Murkowski, asking them why they would choose not to vote for the exact same bill they voted for in 2015. I received no response from Senator Capito, and a canned statement from Senator Murkowski that does not remotely begin to address the questions I had asked.
So what is the difference between 2015 and 2017? I’ll tell you what the difference is. The difference is that today, in 2017, we have a president who would sign that repeal bill into law. In 2015, we did not.
Senators Capito and Murkowski knew this. They lied to their voters, straight up.
Now: we all know that there are surely plenty of other cowards hiding behind the skirts of these two senators. (Hi, Rob Portman!) I suspect that Capito and Murkowski were chosen to be the primary fall guys (or fall gals, as it happens) because they’re not up for reelection for four years (in the case of Capito) and six years (in the case of Murkowski). I think the GOP establishment is hoping that you will forget about their treachery in the intervening four to six years.
I, for one, am not going to forget. I will never forget.
I hereby pledge to donate money to the strongest conservative challenger willing to primary either of these senators on the basis of their refusal to vote to repeal Obamacare. I don’t care if I have to wait until 2020 or 2022, I am doing it. And I will vocally support that person against these Senators, and do everything I can to see that these women are unseated.
So if there are others, why pick on Capito and Murkowski? Oh, I’m willing to do the same for anyone who votes against the repeal bill. We just don’t know who they are yet. But yes, I am focused on these two senators, because they are the ones who came out against the bill first, and will give political cover for others to do the same. We have to make an example out of somebody, so we might as well start with them — pour encourager les autres.
So here’s what we do. We primary them. We never, ever forget this betrayal. This goes for anybody else who votes against having this legislation going forward. All of them get the same treatment. No more donations for any of the turncoats. If they appear on the radio, we call in and rip them to shreds for this vote. We confront them wherever and whenever we can. We pull out all the stops.
I join with your pledge. I will never forget. I think they should lose all their committee appointment. Payback any money their took from Republican Party. Qe are to nice.
Of course it was all theatrics until now. Rs, like a dog chasing a car, after wasting millions of $ and time, now have a mad man president with no concern of anything other than lining his pockets and a goal of destroying anything with Obama’s name on it simply because of his hatred of Obama, will gladly destroy Medicaid and kick millions off of insurance, even though it blatantly breaks his most sacred campaign promises.
Remember when the SCOTUS upheld it and Rs drew a sigh of relief, only to go right back into their repeal gig? It was all politics. They never expected to catch that car they were chasing. Even this very latest House bill presented to the Senate was so profoundly flawed that many GOP Rs that voted for it admitted it was horrible, that it sucked, that they we’re putting a mess into the Senates hands for them to fix simply because after years of repeals, they had to do something.
And when Mitch got a hold of it, he made it worse so I really don’t know if he even expected it to pass (but I’m sure for him the transfer of wealth to the top was worth the destruction to follow).
So yeah, Rs should be ashamed of this con game they’ve been playing. But now that this hypothetical is a reality, what’s a Senator up for re-election or hearing loud protest from the constituents to do? Consider that not a single governor wanted it. The general public hated it. The AMA and every medical association hated it. It was crafted in just a few hours (compared to almost 2 years for ACA), done secretive from Dems and even the public, no hours of debate vrs 100s on ACA, no admendments vrs 171 on ACA, no committees vrs over 100 on ACA, and to top all that off, this bill reflects on just under 20% of the economy.
Aside from how horrible the Micth/Ryan/Trump death panel bill is, the main reason ACA is so difficult to repeal now is that it has been hugely successful, or way too many find it successful now.
@Ajay42302: Just think if liberals and the idiots that support them had not supported Obamacare and destroyed health care. Wouldn’t it have been nice if they had heeded the fairly obvious warnings?
@Deplorable Me:
Flies are bothersome this time of year.